One Capital Management LLC Reduces Holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

One Capital Management LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 34.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 525 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 282 shares during the period. One Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $220,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Howard Capital Management Group LLC purchased a new stake in Linde in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $252,000. Impax Asset Management Group plc grew its stake in Linde by 2.4% in the 3rd quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 2,374,339 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,130,986,000 after acquiring an additional 56,775 shares during the period. Avidian Wealth Enterprises LLC grew its stake in Linde by 4.7% in the 3rd quarter. Avidian Wealth Enterprises LLC now owns 891 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $425,000 after acquiring an additional 40 shares during the period. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in Linde by 20.7% in the 3rd quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC now owns 5,582 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,662,000 after acquiring an additional 957 shares during the period. Finally, Blake Schutter Theil Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Linde in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $225,000. 82.80% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have commented on LIN shares. TD Cowen raised shares of Linde from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $480.00 to $515.00 in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Citigroup lowered their price objective on shares of Linde from $490.00 to $480.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Erste Group Bank reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Linde in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Linde currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $501.82.

Linde Stock Performance

NASDAQ:LIN opened at $468.77 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. The firm has a market capitalization of $221.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.44, a PEG ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $444.80 and its 200 day simple moving average is $455.31. Linde plc has a twelve month low of $410.69 and a twelve month high of $487.49.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.97 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.93 by $0.04. Linde had a net margin of 19.89% and a return on equity of 18.71%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Linde plc will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 13th will be issued a $1.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 13th. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.28%. This is a positive change from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.39. Linde’s payout ratio is currently 44.09%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Paula Rosput Reynolds acquired 100 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 12th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $441.34 per share, for a total transaction of $44,134.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 233 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $102,832.22. This represents a 75.19 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, VP David P. Strauss sold 2,477 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $469.74, for a total transaction of $1,163,545.98. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 1,300 shares in the company, valued at $610,662. This represents a 65.58 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 14,377 shares of company stock worth $6,567,231 in the last quarter. 0.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Linde Profile

Linde plc operates as an industrial gas company in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia, and South Pacific. It offers atmospheric gases, including oxygen, nitrogen, argon, and rare gases; and process gases, such as carbon dioxide, helium, hydrogen, electronic gases, specialty gases, and acetylene.